Schweizer Schreibweise

Swiss Standard German (Schweizer Hochdeutsch) writing conventions per Bundeskanzlei rules.

Authority hierarchy: When sources conflict, the Bundeskanzlei (Federal Chancellery) wins. It defines the official standard for Swiss federal texts and is the reference for typography, punctuation, numbers, dates, and currency.

• Bundeskanzlei Schreibweisungen (2nd ed., 2015) — typography, punctuation, numbers, dates, currency
• Bundeskanzlei Rechtschreibleitfaden (4th ed., 2017) — orthography, ss rule, word list

Orthography

One rule: ss replaces ß everywhere. No exceptions.

Reformed Orthography §25 E2 mandates this for Switzerland. The ß character does not exist in Swiss Standard German.

When converting DE-DE text to Swiss Standard German, replace every ß with ss. This is the single most visible marker of Swiss writing.

Typography

Swiss typography differs from German typography in quotation marks, number formatting, and currency. These rules are mandatory in professional and official Swiss texts.

Quotation Marks

Use guillemets (Chevrons), pointing inward. No space between guillemet and text.

Characters:

• « = U+00AB (left-pointing double angle)
• » = U+00BB (right-pointing double angle)
• ‹ = U+2039 (left-pointing single angle)
• › = U+203A (right-pointing single angle)

Common mistake: French guillemets point outward (« Text ») with spaces. Swiss guillemets point inward with no spaces: «Text».

Number Formatting

The apostrophe thousands separator (1'000) is the most common Swiss convention. The official Bundeskanzlei style uses thin spaces (1 000), but apostrophe is universally accepted and more common in business writing.

Critical: Currency decimals use a point (CHF 99.95), not a comma. This is the opposite of general decimals (4,6 km). This trips up many writers.

Percent and units: A percentage is not a currency — it takes the general decimal (comma), never the currency point: 8,1 %, not 8.1 %. And like every unit symbol, % takes a space before it: 8,1 % / 50 % (not 8,1% or 50%). In flowing prose, spelling it out — «8,1 Prozent» — is the cleanest form; the % sign belongs in tables, graphics, and short copy (LinkedIn, ads). The same spacing applies to units: 5 kg, 50 km/h, 28,7 °C.

Currency

Always write CHF followed by a space, then the amount with point decimals:

• CHF 1'250.00
• CHF 99.95
• CHF 0.50

For ranges: CHF 100.00 bis 200.00 (not CHF 100.00–200.00)

Time

Swiss time uses a period as separator, not a colon.

Date

Dates are the same as in Germany. No difference here.

Grammar

Swiss Standard German has grammatical preferences that differ from DE-DE. These are preferences, not hard rules — but following them makes text sound authentically Swiss rather than translated from German.

Past Tense: Prefer Perfekt

Swiss German strongly prefers Perfekt (compound past) over Präteritum (simple past) in almost all contexts, including formal writing.

Exception: The verbs sein, haben, and werden may use Präteritum even in Swiss writing: «Er war krank» is fine alongside «Er ist krank gewesen».

Date Prepositions: per instead of zum

Dative with Prepositions

Swiss German often prefers dative where DE-DE uses genitive after certain prepositions.

This is a preference in informal and semi-formal writing. In highly formal legal or academic text, genitive is acceptable.

Position Verbs: sein instead of haben

Swiss German uses sein as auxiliary for position verbs (sitzen, stehen, liegen, hängen):

Vocabulary: Helvetismen

Swiss Standard German uses distinct words (Helvetismen) for many everyday and business concepts. Using the DE-DE word is understood but sounds foreign in Swiss context.

Top-20 Business Terms

These are the highest-frequency Helvetismen in professional Swiss writing. Always prefer the Swiss term.

Full Glossary

For complete vocabulary, read:

• references/glossary.md — ~80 core business and everyday terms, categorized by domain
• references/glossary-full.md — ~1,200 merged entries from OpenThesaurus, Wikipedia, and Wiktionary

When to load the glossary: Load references/glossary.md when writing or reviewing Swiss German text that goes beyond the top-20 terms above. Load references/glossary-full.md only when comprehensive coverage is needed or when a specific term is not found in the core glossary.

Quick Checklist

When writing or reviewing Swiss German text, verify:

1. No ß — every ß replaced with ss
2. Guillemets — «» for quotes, ‹› for nested (not „" or "")
3. Numbers — apostrophe thousands (1'000), comma decimals (4,6), but point for currency (CHF 99.95); percent takes comma + space (8,1 %, not 8,1% or 8.1 %)
4. Currency — CHF prefix with point decimals (CHF 1'250.00)
5. Time — period separator (13.30 Uhr, not 13:30)
6. Past tense — Perfekt preferred over Präteritum
7. Vocabulary — Helvetismen for common terms (check glossary if unsure)